All who read have to respond to this!
The following is an article printed in the The CourierMail on Tuesday 9 October, written by columnistPaul Syvret .
If it makes you angry, please send an email expressingyour opinion to him at syvretp@qnp.newsltd.com.au or to The Editor:
cmletters@qnp.newsltd.com.au
Ditch Compo for Nags
Paul SyvretTuesday ViewThe Courier Mail 9 October 2007
Hands up all of you who had a dose of flu over winter?
Wasn't pleasant at all, was it? A few days off workfeeling like 10 pounds of poo in a nine pound bag, and when you get back to the office - dosed to the eye balls on Codral - you were probably doubling up for colleagues stricken by the same virus.
How much compensation did you get for this ailment -
or, more importantly, how much compo did your boss getfor all the lost time and productivity caused by thishighly contagious bug?
I'd venture zip, zilch, nothing.
When the first signs of coughing and spluttering andgeneral malaise began to manifest themselves at yourworkplace, was the site quarantined so you wouldn'tspread the virus any further?
Or did everyone carry on with their lives, transmitting the disease - which reportedly contributed to the deaths of more than a dozen people in Queensland - to all and sundry on the train homefrom work and in local shopping centres and cafes?
Mmmm, thought so.So what is it with equine influenza, or horse flu?
Can someone please explain to me why we have worked ourselves into such a lather about a few sick nags -who, like their human counterparts, in all probability will feel like tripe for a week or two and then recover perfectly well?
Let's face it, if you're not unfortunate enough to have had your livelihood affected by the horse flu - or to be quarantined at some god-for saken country race-track until the virus runs its course - you probably have more important things to worry about in life.
Oops, forgot about the punters some of whom in The Courier Mail office (sorry Michael) were doing a good impression of the delirium tremens when the first string of race meetings was cancelled, and are still deeply traumatised about scratched Spring RacingCarnival fixtures.
Tough - you probably saved yourselves a few bucks onthe punt.
Let's imagine, for a moment, another industry andanother bug.Let's suppose that overnight Queensland's thousands of poker machines - many of which are linked - were incapacitated by a virulent computer virus, a "pokieflu".
Remember that this is a billion dollar industry, creating employment for thousands of people, and providing leisure and entertainment for countless more.
Next to poker machine revenue (which will generateabout $550 million in taxes for Queensland this year),betting on the dish-lickers and the nags (tax revenueof about $35 million) is small beer.
And a hell of a lot more play the pokies than bet onhorses.So, were the pokie virus to strike, how much sympathy would that 'industry' get?
Would we be rushing to fund an emergency assistance package for the thousands of casual liquor and hospitality workers who had their shifts cut back or cancelled because of the virus?
Would we be compensating publicans - including giant chains like ALH - for lost revenue? I think not.
The anti-gambling lobby more likely would be dancing in the streets and playing a certain song by TheWhitlams as loud as possible.
It doesn't happen with the hay-burners, though.
No - poor racing industry.
We'd better throw buckets of money at them to help fix a problem that certain members of their fraternity have helped exacerbate by shifting horses or people contrary to quarantine regulations.
Guess what fellas, with each new outbreak, you've really only got yourselves to blame. It might be a contagious disease but it doesn't spread by magic - it requires movement of people or horses. So look after your own back paddocks before you come whining formore handouts.Then there's the poor caterers, milliners and the like who should perhaps have diversified their businesses a bit in the first place.
A NSW racing industry figure was on radio yesterday fretting about what people in the industry would do when the current trough of government money ran out.
Perhaps he and his ilk would be better off asking hundreds of workers for Ford Australia in Geelong -facing redundancy as Ford "rationalises" operations -how they feel about their taxes going bail out anindustry paralysed by a non-fatal and temporary flu.
Mind you, the horse industry is part of the ruralsector, and God love 'em, Australia's farmers did, after all, write the manual on how to milk subsidiesand tax breaks.
Bugger the Melbourne Cup. Let the horse flu run its course and let's instead run a sweep on which special interest group will be promised the biggest hand-out in the coming federal election. It would certainly bemore entertaining than watching a few horses run around a paddock for three minutes while a stand fullof botoxed Toorak matrons pretend to focus on the racethrough their champagne haze.
If it makes you angry, please send an email expressingyour opinion to him at syvretp@qnp.newsltd.com.au or to The Editor:
cmletters@qnp.newsltd.com.au
Ditch Compo for Nags
Paul SyvretTuesday ViewThe Courier Mail 9 October 2007
Hands up all of you who had a dose of flu over winter?
Wasn't pleasant at all, was it? A few days off workfeeling like 10 pounds of poo in a nine pound bag, and when you get back to the office - dosed to the eye balls on Codral - you were probably doubling up for colleagues stricken by the same virus.
How much compensation did you get for this ailment -
or, more importantly, how much compo did your boss getfor all the lost time and productivity caused by thishighly contagious bug?
I'd venture zip, zilch, nothing.
When the first signs of coughing and spluttering andgeneral malaise began to manifest themselves at yourworkplace, was the site quarantined so you wouldn'tspread the virus any further?
Or did everyone carry on with their lives, transmitting the disease - which reportedly contributed to the deaths of more than a dozen people in Queensland - to all and sundry on the train homefrom work and in local shopping centres and cafes?
Mmmm, thought so.So what is it with equine influenza, or horse flu?
Can someone please explain to me why we have worked ourselves into such a lather about a few sick nags -who, like their human counterparts, in all probability will feel like tripe for a week or two and then recover perfectly well?
Let's face it, if you're not unfortunate enough to have had your livelihood affected by the horse flu - or to be quarantined at some god-for saken country race-track until the virus runs its course - you probably have more important things to worry about in life.
Oops, forgot about the punters some of whom in The Courier Mail office (sorry Michael) were doing a good impression of the delirium tremens when the first string of race meetings was cancelled, and are still deeply traumatised about scratched Spring RacingCarnival fixtures.
Tough - you probably saved yourselves a few bucks onthe punt.
Let's imagine, for a moment, another industry andanother bug.Let's suppose that overnight Queensland's thousands of poker machines - many of which are linked - were incapacitated by a virulent computer virus, a "pokieflu".
Remember that this is a billion dollar industry, creating employment for thousands of people, and providing leisure and entertainment for countless more.
Next to poker machine revenue (which will generateabout $550 million in taxes for Queensland this year),betting on the dish-lickers and the nags (tax revenueof about $35 million) is small beer.
And a hell of a lot more play the pokies than bet onhorses.So, were the pokie virus to strike, how much sympathy would that 'industry' get?
Would we be rushing to fund an emergency assistance package for the thousands of casual liquor and hospitality workers who had their shifts cut back or cancelled because of the virus?
Would we be compensating publicans - including giant chains like ALH - for lost revenue? I think not.
The anti-gambling lobby more likely would be dancing in the streets and playing a certain song by TheWhitlams as loud as possible.
It doesn't happen with the hay-burners, though.
No - poor racing industry.
We'd better throw buckets of money at them to help fix a problem that certain members of their fraternity have helped exacerbate by shifting horses or people contrary to quarantine regulations.
Guess what fellas, with each new outbreak, you've really only got yourselves to blame. It might be a contagious disease but it doesn't spread by magic - it requires movement of people or horses. So look after your own back paddocks before you come whining formore handouts.Then there's the poor caterers, milliners and the like who should perhaps have diversified their businesses a bit in the first place.
A NSW racing industry figure was on radio yesterday fretting about what people in the industry would do when the current trough of government money ran out.
Perhaps he and his ilk would be better off asking hundreds of workers for Ford Australia in Geelong -facing redundancy as Ford "rationalises" operations -how they feel about their taxes going bail out anindustry paralysed by a non-fatal and temporary flu.
Mind you, the horse industry is part of the ruralsector, and God love 'em, Australia's farmers did, after all, write the manual on how to milk subsidiesand tax breaks.
Bugger the Melbourne Cup. Let the horse flu run its course and let's instead run a sweep on which special interest group will be promised the biggest hand-out in the coming federal election. It would certainly bemore entertaining than watching a few horses run around a paddock for three minutes while a stand fullof botoxed Toorak matrons pretend to focus on the racethrough their champagne haze.
posted by Horse Deals at
8:18 am
2 Comments:
Well this is certainly one point of view that is a little "different", although I can see what the author is trying to get at.
I may only own 1 little grey pony mare but to us she is worth millions. If Lucy were to die all hell would break loose, as she is special to my 9 year old daughter, who has a medical condition.
As for letting the disease run its course or vaccinating I don't know.... BUT.................
what about a census on the horses and microchipping so that we may know whether a horse has had EI, and how many have/ have not had the virus. That way if we were to purchase a horse we would have an idea of it's health. Like a horse medical data bank.
Of course we would need people and funds to set this up. Think of the jobs created, jobs to take up the slack created by this disease.
well just an idea. plenty of opinions about though.
from Louise.
WHAT A MOORON!!!!!, I WILL GRANT YOU ONE THING YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT ONE THING WHEN YOU SAID BUGGER THE MELBOURNE CUP. BUT AS REGARDS TO ANYTHING ELSE IN YOUR ARTICLE YOU REALLY NEED TO BE BETTER EDUCATED AND I MUST SAY, IF HE WAS TO READ THIS BLOGG SIGHT HE WOULD BE OFF TO A BRILLIANT START...
CHEERS
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